YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The Real Story Behind 2026 Giving USA, with Jim Langley

The Real Story Behind 2026 Giving USA, with Jim Langley — Transcript

by Susan Axelrod · 5,270 words · 811 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:02How can charitable organizations build a
0:05sustained culture of philanthropy?
0:08Jim Langley, president of Langley
0:10Innovation, says, "Speak with your
0:12donors and listen to what they have to
0:15share." In this video series, Jim shares
0:18decades of expertise and his commitment
0:21to helping institutions develop the most
0:24effective strategies to build broader
0:26and more lasting communities of support.
0:30If you're a fundraiser, tune in now.
0:33Every video with Jim is a master class.
0:37Hello, I'm Susan Axelrod, hosting this
0:41conversation in On Philanthropy with Jim
0:46Langley.
0:48When I was younger,
0:50I
0:52used to look forward to June as it was
0:54the start of the summer and
0:59vacation was forthcoming. When I became
1:04older and started my career when I was
1:0822, very shortly, June indicated
1:12something else and that was the output
1:15of the giving USA statistics on
1:18philanthropy and charitable giving. And
1:21then every year from then until now from
1:24the beginning of June I look forward to
1:26receiving these statistics so that I can
1:28know the trends and be aware of them and
1:31how to support my clients. This year I
1:35knew that I wanted to bring Jim Langley
1:37into this conversation and I'm happy to
1:40do that now. Hello Jim. Good to see you.
1:43>> Good to see you Susan. Glad to join you.
1:46Look, Jim, this is not going to be one
1:49of those types of conversations where
1:50we're going to review slides and show
1:52statistics and and these these
1:54conversations are important and I
1:56appreciate them from others, but our
1:59conversation is more organic and also uh
2:04challenging of the status quo. This is
2:07something that I appreciate you for. you
2:10challenge us and you really uh encourage
2:14us to think creatively. So the type of
2:19conversation that we wanted to have
2:20today was three things. One, what do the
2:24numbers mean?
2:25>> Right?
2:26>> What do they confirm
2:29and what do they signal? So I'm going to
2:32just let you go and then I'm going to
2:34put up my finger like this when I need
2:36to ask you a clarifying question.
2:38[laughter]
2:38>> All right. All right. Well, let me do
2:40this succinctly so that we can get your
2:42your questions. But we should be very
2:45proud of a culture and be very grateful
2:48to a culture that produced this year,
2:51previous year 2025, over $600 billion
2:56dollar in philanthropic support. So, I
2:58don't want to say anything that that
3:00would take away from the awe that I feel
3:04when we the people of the United States
3:06produce that amount of money, right? And
3:09so, it it's awe inspiring and should
3:12give us hope. But what I think is so
3:15missing is in the nonprofit world, this
3:18announcement creates a certain cognitive
3:21dissonance because there are so many
3:22people in the nonprofit world that are
3:25saying, "But that's not my reality.
3:28That's not what we're seeing." And
3:29indeed, Susan, you and I know lots of
3:32places where layoffs are occurring,
3:35significant layoffs, including recently
3:37I saw the American Cancer Society is
3:39laying off significant number of people.
3:42So how is it as this large S is flowing
3:44in that it isn't flowing to major
3:48organizations and some of the most
3:50meaningful and hardworking and different
3:53making organization. There is something
3:55not intentionally but misleading about
3:58the report the way it's shared and the
4:00impressions it creates often on board
4:02members and CEOs. And I want to point to
4:05just a couple of those factors. The
4:07first is we must make a distinction
4:10between what America gives or Americans
4:13give and what nonprofits receive. The
4:17top five recipients of American large s
4:20in recent years are Fidelity, Vanguard,
4:24Goldman Sachs. Please understand that
4:27that when you hear that 600 billion plus
4:31617 billion, what you're not seeing is a
4:35huge portion of that is going into donor
4:38advised funds. And we don't make a
4:41distinction between what Americans gave
4:45in the name of philanthropy and what
4:47they set aside for future philanthropy.
4:50And it is in that delta where so much
4:54then of the confusion and the cognitive
4:57dissonance that we see in the nonprofit
5:00world arises. Wait a second. Why are
5:02isn't that happening to us? So there has
5:06been this movement away from
5:08institutional giving. There's been a
5:10huge influx in giving to DAFFs and it
5:12was one of the fastest growing areas
5:14this year as it was in the previous
5:16five, six, seven years I believe up 11%.
5:19So right away that money is not flowing
5:23through immediately. A portion of it
5:25will over time and that's the good news
5:28in the sense that it's there but it's
5:30not hitting the books of the nonprofits.
5:32The second point that I want to make is
5:34if not just for instance if not for the
5:38giving of a single person McKenzie Scott
5:43who gave onethird of the mega gifts
5:47given in that year. We don't have a
5:49record.
5:52>> So
5:54wonderful. We're so grateful for
5:56Mackenzie Scott. We think she's
5:58wonderfully uh enlightened and
6:01courageous in what she's doing. We wish
6:03there were more of her, but she is an
6:05anomaly. And [clears throat] further,
6:07McKenzie Scott can't give to everybody.
6:10Can't send billions that is equally
6:12distributed. So McKenzie Scott quite
6:14understandably designates certain
6:16organizations. So this is the phenomenon
6:20where so much is coming about 20% is
6:23coming from mega giving after we exclude
6:25DAFFs and mega givers make choices as to
6:29where their money goes and then there's
6:31the rest of the philanthropic world that
6:34is experiencing something much
6:36different. So, we all like to use AI and
6:39I thought it would just be really
6:40interesting to ask AI about crunching
6:43all this data and and giving us a kind
6:46of a reality check on trends. And so I
6:50check my own thinking and say, well,
6:52Jim, are you you missing something? So,
6:55you know what AI is telling us is that
6:58while 617 billion was given, it says
7:03fundraising dynamics are shifting as
7:06nonprofits navigate an increasingly
7:09complex and political environment. Boom.
7:13Donors are becoming more selective,
7:15focusing their contributions on
7:17established relationships and
7:19organizations that can demonstrate
7:21clear, measurable impact. Right? And so
7:24then it goes lays out where some of
7:26these changes are occurring. But it says
7:29within that market of givers, within
7:31that universe of givers is more concern,
7:34more discernment, more skepticism and
7:37all the things that must be faced and
7:40must be understood if we the people are
7:43ultimately to come together in larger
7:45form and support our most worthy
7:49organizations. the one that we know make
7:51differences in our lives every day and
7:54make us a better country and a better
7:55people. So I just wanted to start there
7:57Susan by saying this is what is not
8:00being communicated. Now if you read that
8:03report and you get into the nitty-gritty
8:05of that report you'll see some very good
8:06analytical work but watch the
8:08announcements
8:10>> coming from major organizations. I won't
8:13pick on any and I don't think again
8:15there's ill will but it's oh this is a
8:18new birth this is a new level in
8:20American philanthropy now
8:22>> 600 billion
8:23>> right the problem with that is uh lots
8:27of board members lots of bosses lots of
8:29CEOs conclude oh there's a lot more out
8:32there we're not getting our fair share
8:35something must be wrong with our
8:36fundraising where what we should be
8:38concluding is American philanthropic
8:41behaviors have shifted significantly.
8:44While dollars are going up, the level of
8:46participation continues to decline. And
8:49what you're really seeing are fewer
8:52people giving much more significant
8:56levels of giving, usually at a certain
8:58age. And that if we don't look forward,
9:02look farther down this path, if we
9:05continue to do what we're doing and
9:07operating on the same set of
9:08assumptions, everything we're saying
9:10today will be more true next year and
9:14the following year and the following
9:15year until, you know, megaealthy people
9:18either stop giving or are no longer with
9:21us. Right? So what again so grateful for
9:24these numbers, so grateful for anybody
9:26who gives of themselves for whatever
9:29reason. It's the misinterpretation of
9:32the data that then seems to perpetuate
9:37the the most depleted fundraising
9:39practices,
9:40>> right? Damn, Jim. Let's go.
9:43>> Let's go. That's the problem.
9:46>> Let's go. It's a problem. Yeah. Uh you
9:49and I, we don't script ourselves. We
9:52don't I don't know what you're going to
9:53say. You don't know what I'm going to
9:54say, but I'm going to say let's go. That
9:58um yes, let's start with awe. I I felt
10:03the same. I got you the awe in the you
10:06know 600 billion dollars and and that's
10:10617
10:11just the 17 billion is a big number. And
10:15uh so there is awe in that.
10:20It's a good place to take a pause.
10:23>> Yeah.
10:24>> And then we do want to call out the
10:30stress point that you just identified
10:33for uh of the you could go from 1.5 to
10:371.8 to nearly two million nonprofits in
10:40our uh country depending on how you look
10:42at them and how you count them. for sure
10:441.5 million and how many of them are
10:49receiving the money. So you said I love
10:52this pay attention to the people
10:54listening. It's important to make a
10:56distinction between what Americans are
11:00giving and what nonprofits are
11:02receiving.
11:03>> Yes.
11:03>> And so the top three charities today are
11:08private financial institutions which
11:10filed for 501c3 status. So they could,
11:14you know, right? And that's where so
11:17much of the pot is living.
11:20>> Anyone who is tuned in to philanthropy
11:23and giving knows the donor advised fund
11:26pot is growing. And also, just so you
11:30know, in case you hadn't heard, the the
11:32a lot of that sits in the public society
11:35benefit bucket.
11:36>> That's it.
11:37>> And that's why that bucket has been
11:40growing. Now I heard directly from I did
11:44my research heard directly from the
11:46people who create the statistics and
11:48they said that they they put the numbers
11:52in the pot where the intention was. So
11:56of course community foundations uh exist
11:59and they have uh you know donor advised
12:02funds that's going to be in the
12:03foundation's pot. But that number that
12:06you just quoted um or the information
12:09the distinction between where Americans
12:11give and where the nonprofits receive
12:13sits in what we call public society
12:15benefit.
12:16>> That's it.
12:16>> Then you then you said um you you talked
12:21about cognitive dissonance.
12:23>> Yeah. And it's so respectful of the our
12:28colleagues, the nonprofits, the people
12:31who run them, the people who raise money
12:33for them. And you said again such an
12:36amazing increas
12:40Scott to have given. Nobody takes away
12:44from that. That's just sheer grace,
12:46right?
12:47>> Yes. But yet you said but for that
12:51number there would not have been the
12:54increase right
12:55>> and so we really need to talk about
12:58what's a fundraiser to do Jim.
13:02>> So the it's so poignant right the the
13:06largest the generosity of McKenzie Scott
13:10masks the loss of millions of giving
13:13households millions.
13:16Right. And the loss of a giving
13:18household has a permanent effect on
13:23philanthropic giving. And the just
13:26inability to start giving never then
13:28leaves forward leads forward to greater
13:31giving. Right. So we're stunting cutting
13:33off philanthropic growth at the root
13:35system. It's it's very worrisome. And
13:37then of course the significant portion
13:39of those gifts Susan come from bequest.
13:41Again tremendously grateful but about
13:4320% coming from bequest right folks.
13:46What does that mean? And there's no more
13:48there.
13:49>> They died.
13:50>> So, we're going to see this more and
13:52more in recent years. And I'm afraid the
13:53same trend. Look at all these numbers
13:55coming in. What you're seeing is the
13:56harvest of of lifetimes. And if you'll
13:59look behind the number, you're not
14:01seeing lifetimes
14:04manifesting the same behaviors. Right.
14:06So we're it's like this generational
14:08harvest, this grand celebration and uh
14:12then that work for the fundraiser that
14:14you just cited is much harder, right?
14:17Because for the donors who existed as AI
14:20rightly concludes, they are more
14:23discerning. They are asking tougher
14:24questions. They want more evidence of
14:26impact. They're acting on their values.
14:28And what we're seeing, Susan, is a
14:30really a realignment of how the
14:33individual relates to the institution.
14:35They are not obedient. They are not um
14:38you doing what they were told. They're
14:40not even buying sort of the core
14:41message. They're listening and saying,
14:43"Well, out of all the things that you
14:44propose, here's if anything what
14:47resonates with me." So that that
14:50traditional fundraiser with those
14:52traditional expectations is encountering
14:54greater obstacles than I would have ever
14:56faced in my active fundraising career,
14:58but often being held to higher
15:00expectations. So the question is, how do
15:03we get this knowledge in? And obviously
15:04what you're doing is very helpful. I try
15:07to work with boards all the time and get
15:09this information to them. And when I do
15:11it's very sobering. Congratulations on
15:13that big number last year. Now let's
15:15deconstruct it. Now let's look at the
15:17loss of donors. And maybe Susan, we
15:20could even use AI to run those trends
15:23and say then this is if if not
15:26disrupted, if this present patterns
15:28persist, this is what it's going to look
15:29like in 5 years and 10 years. And you
15:32will see this growing dependency on the
15:34aging wealthy few and then a few
15:36anomalies. Let's hope. But the the body
15:39politic of the nonprofit world is like
15:42the American economy. Some are doing
15:44very well, some are doing well, and some
15:47are struggling monthto-month. That's
15:49just like the American body politic.
15:52>> It's m then it's mirrored in the world.
15:54So we take these blanket assumptions
15:56like, oh, some are doing incredibly
15:58well. Why aren't we doing as well? And
16:01the answer is so complex. How many years
16:04have you been at it? How much have you
16:06invested in it? What is your outlook and
16:07attitude toward fundraising? Is it
16:10transactional? Is it community building?
16:12Right? There are all kinds of things.
16:14But the large answer usually is that
16:16organization has been in it much longer,
16:19has built up credibility and trust over
16:22a long period of time, has many more 20
16:24year plus relationships than you do. And
16:26unless until you move in that direction,
16:29you're not going to catch up by giving
16:32days or clever messages or logging your
16:35fundraisers.
16:36>> Also, that organization that you just
16:39described also has more fundraisers
16:43>> much more,
16:44>> right?
16:45>> And and higher paid, right? So, you look
16:47at all these correlations, right? And
16:50but but it isn't it can't fundraising
16:53success is is long in acrewing to an
16:56organization as an organization develops
17:00goodwill and credibility for the work
17:01it's done over generations. Right? So th
17:04this is the this is the mood this is the
17:07world in which we face and simply
17:09getting more of the powers to be to
17:12understand that you must look at metric
17:15besides dollars raised last year just
17:18like we're doing have to deconstruct
17:22how many are bequest what what are the
17:25the largest gifts we've gotten and so
17:27Susan with working with clients I'll ask
17:29what are the largest five to 10 gifts
17:31you've gotten in the last year or in the
17:34last campaign. Those five to 10 gifts
17:37are usually
17:39>> at least 50% of the total.
17:41>> Yeah.
17:41>> At least sometimes more.
17:43>> Five to 10.
17:44>> So all this thing about wahoo, we made
17:47all this money, we raised all this
17:49money. Um, yeah, but you have a huge
17:53dependency on the relative few. And and
17:56then as the relative few give more and
17:58more, what does it do to the person
18:00struggling paycheck to paycheck about
18:02their philanthropic obligations? Go,
18:03well, good for them. I guess they don't
18:06really need my $100 a month anymore.
18:09So, the person struggling paycheck to
18:11paycheck, the economy of our time, and
18:14uh the numbers come out, $600 billion
18:17dollar more than it's ever been. They
18:19don't need my money. Uh but also, in an
18:24ironic twist,
18:26calling out that person struggling
18:28paycheck to paycheck needs that
18:31communitybased
18:32nonprofit organization to be there to
18:36support them.
18:37>> Yeah. Yeah.
18:39>> And and and and to understand what
18:41they're doing to improve the quality of
18:43life and maybe even reduce the expense
18:46of life. In other words, having a
18:48healthy uh world of nonprofits in your
18:50community makes for a more vibrant,
18:53active, livable community and saves you
18:56expense uh that government would have to
18:58expend and addressing some seemingly
19:01retractable programs. So there's so many
19:03benefits that acrew to an organization
19:05because of nonprofit caring and yet
19:10we're not getting that story through.
19:12And I think so much of it is because we
19:14keep talking about the amount raised and
19:16dollars raised records.
19:18>> Wow. It's the latest sound bite. It's
19:20the latest soundbite that came out. And
19:23I'm really hearing you on the disservice
19:27that uh the the latest sound bite and
19:30all the pronouncements really is having.
19:33I did work with an amazing
19:36community-based agency where I'm where I
19:39used to be from as a consultant and
19:42that's one of the times I don't even
19:44remember how many years this goes back
19:46but uh Sue the executive director told
19:49me the impact of their services on the
19:53county budget
19:55and how much the county budget didn't
19:57have to [clears throat] spend.
19:58>> Yes. because of the services provided
20:02between paid staffing and a large
20:05volunteer corps that supported and
20:07protected the the fabric of of that
20:11community. That's exactly what you're
20:13talking about. Wow. This is not a
20:15feel-good conversation, Jim.
20:17>> No, but here it is in the face of this
20:20awe inspiring number. And again, it is
20:23like the American economy. Look at the
20:25whole picture and all several things can
20:28be true at one time is that some can be
20:31prospering and some can be struggling,
20:33right? But it's the majority that are
20:36struggling and many of them are worthy
20:38nonprofits that you want in your
20:40community and your neighborhood. That's
20:41the thing that we are forgetting. And I
20:44to be fair, I know this will be also
20:47controversial. Some nonprofits, in my
20:50estimation, don't help themselves by
20:51saying things like, "Well, DAFFs are an
20:54injustice. It isn't fair." Oh, folks,
20:57uh, you know, claiming injustice is not
21:00a good way to raise money. It is what it
21:01is. The money is there. Uh, people have
21:04philanthropic intent. The people who
21:06create DFS also are more likely to
21:08create wills with with philanthropic
21:10allocations to them. It's just the
21:13individual saying, "I want to exercise
21:15more options. I want to be more
21:17circumspect in giving. It's not the
21:19individual that's being a donor that's
21:21being unfair. They're making good sound
21:24business decisions and looking at their
21:26tax base and everything else. I think
21:28what what we have to do is not claim
21:30unfairness, but do what you and I are
21:33just doing and that's work together to
21:36say this is what your nonprofit
21:38community is doing for you and your
21:40community that you may not know about.
21:42Right. We've got to get and we've got to
21:45work more at that neighborhood and
21:47community level. We can't the best
21:50national solution is better coordination
21:52within our and communication within our
21:55individual communities and hope that
21:57adds up to greater awareness.
22:01>> Another thing is that our nonprofits can
22:08get more confident and bold asking one
22:11simple question. Do you have a donor
22:13advised fund?
22:14>> Right.
22:15>> I sat across a table many years ago from
22:19a professional, a highlevel volunteer
22:22wealthy person and I looked and it was
22:25an a group board meeting and looked
22:27straight at him and said, "Do you have a
22:29donor advised fund?"
22:31>> And basically in front of the whole
22:32board, he said, "Well, that's a personal
22:35question."
22:36>> Yeah. and I said, "It may be personal to
22:39you, but it's relevant for this
22:42community agency." And he revealed that
22:45he had had a donor advised fund for 25
22:47years that he had never gifted anything
22:50from
22:51>> And I looked around the board table and
22:53said, "There's your money. Go get it."
22:56You know,
22:56>> that's it. It's there.
22:58>> Yeah.
22:58>> And you know, you can't take it back out
23:00once you put it in. You can't take it
23:01back out. So, um, that's the that's the
23:05challenge. I mean I think you have to
23:06say where is the opportunity where is
23:08the money but the long answer of course
23:11is uh the rebuilding of community itself
23:14right there is no substitute we've lost
23:16it there's more skepticism toward
23:19organizations people don't feel that
23:20they're representative of their values
23:22or purposes you go back to where we
23:25began and that's at a kind of a
23:27grassroots level organizing listening um
23:31getting people to better understand
23:32where their money can make a difference
23:34there was a there was a wonderful
23:36article um recently that I cited in one
23:38of my uh web posts that um addressed
23:41this and the writer in Observer, the
23:44publication Observer said, you know, the
23:46future belong for those that work at the
23:48community level who listen and work with
23:51their neighbors to come up with
23:53solutions that they feel collectively
23:55they can support. think we've gotten
23:58maybe a little too big, a little
23:59removed. And part of that is got a lot
24:03of board members who have no idea. We
24:06say how fundraising works, but what they
24:09really don't know is how profoundly
24:11philanthropic behaviors have changed in
24:14this country.
24:17>> You know, this is very interesting. I do
24:19have a client, a global organization
24:22with a high level board and the client,
24:26you know, the president is my client and
24:27they're very frustrated. Uh, but to tell
24:30you the truth, they are those people in
24:33the ultra high net worth who are giving
24:35a lot. But you said, you know, right
24:37from the beginning, you said um smaller
24:40concentration and you said these people
24:42are giving to fewer organizations.
24:46So they may be giving a lot but they're
24:48giving to fewer organizations and it's
24:50really kind of tightening down uh right
24:55>> you know the fun not the funnel but the
24:58>> I don't know I know you don't like the
24:59word pipeline but the the potential
25:02>> right
25:04>> right well that's right so there's a
25:06disconnection that's occurred right a
25:09disconnection between so much of the
25:11nonprofit world and
25:13[clears throat] and um but What do you
25:16do in the face of that is is not to
25:18continue to engage in kind of desperate
25:20fundraising, but take a step back and
25:22start
25:23convening groups and listening to
25:25neighbors and say, you know, are we
25:27representing shared interest here? And
25:29if so, how can we best pursue them? Um,
25:33I think that's the while not an easy
25:36message to give, there's no there's no
25:40easy fundraising recipe that's going to
25:42turn this around. And that's what
25:44worries me. So many people seize on it.
25:46There's more out there, right? And
25:48you're not run another campaign, do more
25:51of the same.
25:52>> Or get this app.
25:54>> Yeah. Or get this app or, you know, use
25:56AI. Um, you know, all those are not
25:59unreasonable, but the context is
26:02completely wrong.
26:03>> We're suffering a crisis of community
26:06itself.
26:07>> We're suffering a crisis of community
26:10itself. you know, uh, you did say
26:14deconstruct the numbers and then you
26:17said use AI to run the trends.
26:20>> Yeah.
26:20>> Use AI to run the global or national
26:23trends and use AI to run your own
26:26trends. But what you did when you used
26:28AI was my magic rule, which is vet and
26:30verify, review, and revise. You wouldn't
26:33have come here in this conversation if
26:35you didn't vet and verify the
26:37information you got back. AI is a great
26:40tool. I use it every day and it the the
26:43the synthesis is absolutely amazing. Um
26:46you can use the tool and vet and verify
26:50your your own uh numbers. Now there is
26:53an aspect um that is relieving at the
26:58end of our conversation here.
27:02You know you said take a step back. I
27:04first say take a breath and take a step
27:06back and really ask ourselves what is it
27:10that we can do exactly right now in
27:14response to this pretty unfun
27:16conversation with Jim and Susan today.
27:18And that's okay. We're we're here to uh
27:22love and support uh the people who are
27:25in the trenches. And you said start
27:30convening groups. Yeah,
27:33>> this is pretty easy. It's free. You
27:37could do it online or have a cup of
27:39coffee, whatever. And then you said,
27:42"Talk to your neighbors." Now, you were
27:45kind of referencing a community-based
27:48situation, organization, but whoever
27:50your neighbors are,
27:52>> these are things that anyone can do if
27:56we breathe and take a step back from the
28:00that metric crush. Right.
28:03>> Right. Yeah. And and you the other thing
28:05with all these, you know, I don't know
28:06if we'll reach anybody who set up a
28:08donor adise fund, but if you have a
28:10donor adise fund and you're struggling
28:11with with how to give,
28:14um there are wealth management advisors
28:16who are holding regular seminars about
28:17that and I speak to those and talk to
28:19people's values. But the other thing is
28:23send your own kind of personal RFP to 10
28:25nonprofits. Say this is who I am. This
28:27is what I believe in. Please tell me why
28:30I should give to you. give them a chance
28:33to respond to you and tell you about
28:36impact. I think so many people who hold
28:39DFS would be so pleasantly surprised if
28:43they challenge more nonprofit leaders to
28:45say make your case to me and let me
28:48decide.
28:50Just don't sit there and say someday I'd
28:52like to. There's too much opportunity in
28:55this world. There's too much that needs
28:57to be done. there are too too many
29:00people who are suboptimized in our
29:02community. We're not living our best
29:04life uh until we bring out the best in
29:07everybody. So start your own due
29:10diligence process. Be more disciplined
29:12about it.
29:14>> So a we are speaking directly to you if
29:18you have your own donor advised fund.
29:21>> Yes.
29:22>> Create your own RFP. give your local
29:26nonprofits or your arena, whatever
29:28nonprofits are in your arena of
29:30interest, give them an opportunity to
29:34>> tell you why they're worthy of your
29:36gift. Now, likewise, Jim, we're also
29:39speaking directly to you if you're a
29:41fundraiser, a nonprofit CEO, a nonprofit
29:44board member, and you could do the same
29:46thing. You could communicate with your
29:49own people and say, "Do you have a donor
29:53advised fund? May we have an opportunity
29:56to tell you why we're worthy of
29:59receiving a grant from your fund?"
30:02>> Yes,
30:03absolutely. But start that conversation.
30:06And as I said, they're wealth managers
30:07also trying to educate their clients.
30:09They've done well in the stock market
30:10and sort of trying to figure out what to
30:12do. So I somehow Susan it's it's getting
30:16away from the traditional fundraising
30:17machinery and getting back into
30:20conversational modes including direct
30:23challenges to each other. Did you know
30:25um you know as you said nonprofits
30:28rather than fundraiser start issuing
30:30impact statements start start trying to
30:33reach community leaders and say spread
30:35the word. Um, use social media not to
30:39post pictures of styrofoam checks, but
30:42to talk about, you know, impacts and
30:44differences made. Start getting service
30:47deliverers to speak for you, not just
30:50CEOs, you know, speaking from on high.
30:52Get the people are actually delivering
30:54your services in the field under
30:56strenuous circumstances saying, "This is
30:58what I see. This is what gives me hope.
31:00This is what I'm concerned about. I do
31:02believe what the the the basic missing
31:05piece, the thing that we forgot
31:07somewhere along the line is people give
31:08to people. They don't give to buckets.
31:10They don't give to funds. They don't
31:12give to endowments. They don't they give
31:14to people that they identify with. So
31:17get more people in front of them,
31:20whether it's the recipients of your
31:23support or it's the people providing the
31:25services. And I think you reawaken, oh,
31:29that's the kind of person I'd like to
31:31come alongside. That's the kind of
31:33person I'd like to help. She's
31:35hardworking. She's disciplined,
31:37dedicated, caring. Uh, I don't want to
31:40go on too long, Susan, but I get a lot
31:41of people to do concept papers as
31:43opposed to just write cases for support.
31:46>> I know that's one of your things. I love
31:49the individual voice that comes through
31:51because all of a sudden I can hear
31:52somebody who cares about something who
31:54wakes up every morning and says, "I want
31:57to make this better." Right? So get more
32:00voice, human voice in our work and then
32:03start more conversations about how we
32:05work together. It's broad advice, but
32:07but but where we started, you could
32:11totally misread this data. You could
32:14totally fall back on the same
32:16propositions that you've relied on too
32:18long and miss the opportunity or be in
32:22an even worse position this time next
32:24year if you don't do something
32:26differently.
32:27I'm going to take time to
32:31watch this and listen and make some
32:34notes on the things that our viewers can
32:38do
32:39>> uh so that this can be uh helpful even
32:43though we're pretty much speaking as
32:46real as it gets. Jim, I'm not sure
32:48anyone is going to hear this anywhere
32:50else to the point that you made, which
32:52is the grand pronouncements of these
32:55huge numbers. uh we're you know there's
32:58some reality in here that
33:01>> is difficult. So we're gonna I'm gonna
33:04work on that so that
33:06>> people will have that. Um and then also
33:11this idea of taking a breath, stepping
33:14back, asking yourselves in your
33:17organization. Um you know, have we ever
33:20thought about one of the things you said
33:22which was letting our program people
33:24deliver who are delivering the services
33:26say this is what I'm seeing. There's
33:28there's lots of helpful stuff in here.
33:30>> Yes.
33:31>> So I want to say thank you for not
33:33shying away from the hard conversation.
33:36I knew you wouldn't. Um, and I really
33:39appreciate your, you know, taking time
33:41to think and synthesize and speak out
33:44the truth with, uh, really love in your
33:47heart for the nonprofits and for the
33:49people who work there and and uh, that's
33:52the bottom line.
33:54>> That's it. That's it. We want them to
33:56understand what's going on so that they
33:58can adapt to these new realities.
34:01So, what if somebody wanted to have a
34:03conversation with you about this?
34:05>> Contact me at jimlangleyinovations.com
34:08or um let's start a conversation on
34:11LinkedIn. That's my preferred social
34:13media and see if we can create kind of
34:15best practice among ourselves in
34:17conversation.
34:18>> Right. Amazing.
34:21Let's go, Jim.
34:23>> Let's go, Susan. Thank you for
34:24everything you're doing.
34:25>> All right. See you again soon.
34:27>> All right. Thank you. Bye.
34:28>> Bye. Bye.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The Real Story Behind 2026 Giving USA, with Jim Langley by Susan Axelrod, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 5,270 words across 811 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.